42 Abu Dhabi makes coding a career choice
PROFESSIONALS BENEFIT FROM FREE TRAINING COURSES
AlHai Alhameli, data engineer at the Statistics Centre — Abu Dhabi (SCAD), believes he thinks differently. “Thanks to 42 Abu Dhabi, not only has my career path changed, but my entire way of thinking has been transformed,” he says.
He credits the free coding school’s disruptive learning for enabling him to discover his passion for coding and broaden his horizons. “It has given me the opportunity to work on advanced tech projects, interact with experts, and deepen my passion for the field. The success I have achieved in my role at SCAD underscores the importance of education that fosters critical and creative thinking,” he said.
Ghaiath Antoun Abdoush, data science specialist at the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK), finds himself in a dream role.
“During my work in the agricultural field for several years, I encountered projects that could benefit greatly from technology and automation. This sparked my curiosity about how to automate tasks and enhance production. To pursue this, I began teaching myself programming. Fortunately, I came across Facebook ads announcing the opening of the 42 branch in Abu Dhabi,” he said.
Refining skills
He joined the first batch at 42 Abu Dhabi where he was introduced to machine learning and data science through a global hackathon. “I was fortunate to win first place among 250 teams from various countries. This experience solidified my purpose, and I dedicated myself to learning data science and machine learning to refine my skills in these areas,” he said.
“I am still amazed that my first job in the technology field is as a data scientist — my dream role. Simultaneously, I am working on integrating machine learning into the agricultural field to enhance production, automate tasks, and help secure food in crowded and underserved areas.”
As the only school of its kind, the ADEK-led tution-free school offers more than 100 projects for people from various backgrounds to pick.
Peer-to-peer model and gamified learning process
Mehrin Firdousi, a software engineer at Tocco, who joined 42 Abu Dhabi while building her career in software engineering, said: “I wasn’t new to coding but I was mainly attracted by the peer-to-peer model and gamified learning process. My experience with the programme was great, I found that there’s so much collective insight offered by our diverse community and there was always value in approaching someone with a question about my project or something I was stuck on, even if they were unrelated to my project.”
Currently working in the climate-tech sector, she feels the urgency to address the issue of climate change and wants to continue working towards a cleaner future, by contributing to sustainable alternative materials research and aiding this evolution through technology.
What is coding?
Coding, also known as programming, is the process of writing instructions for computers to perform specific tasks.
These instructions, written in a programming language, tell the computer how to execute various operations. Coding is fundamental to creating software, apps, websites and virtually all digital technology.
100 projects
With the curriculum, already offering 100 projects, constantly evolving to keep up with latest industry trends, there is something for everyone.
Students can start their journey with a 12-22 month common core programme to learn coding fundamentals, followed by a six-month internship. They can then explore and specialise through the mastery programme, which typically takes two-three years.
Tuition-free with no barriers, the programmes are open to anyone wanting to learn to code. While no previous coding experience or academic qualifications are required to apply, candidates must be aged 18 years old and above, and be able to adapt and collaborate.